Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published the human development index (HDI) which looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being. The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development, however HDI gives some valuable information about some dimensions of global trends.

Earlier I have published following two other articles related to other aspects of development in Balkans:

Freedom in Balkanswhich has its perspective on political rights and civil liberties, democracy, economy, poverty and movement

In this article my focus is to collect the human development index scores of Balkans and Black Sea regions as well some other picks. The report and additional related materials etc (my source with this article) can be found from UNDP’s HDR 2009 site.

Dimensions

The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as gender or income inequality nor more difficult to measure concepts like respect for human rights and political freedoms.

Balkans, Black Sea, others

From original HDR 2009 report I have selected following countries to my modified tabl

Balkan states

Black Sea states + Iran

The top and the worst score in the wordl

U.S. as old superpower

BRIC countries as rising superpowers

And here is the table:

Human development index

Dimension /// Rank & score

Rank

+ / –

(2006)

Country ///

Name & Score

Life expectancy at birth (years)

Adult literacy rate (%)

Combined gross enrolment ratio

GDP per capita (PPP US$)

1.

Norway (0.971)

12. (80.5)

NA (99.0)

8. (98.6)

5. (53,433)

13. –

United States (0.956)

26. (79.1)

NA (99.0)

21. (92.4)

9. (45,592)

25.

Greece (0.942)

27. (79.1)

35. (97.1)

3. (101.6)

31. (28,517)

29.

Slovenia (0.929)

33. (78.2)

8. (99.7)

20. (92.8)

33. (26,753)

45.

Croatia (0.871)

42. (76.0)

23. (98.7)

74. (77.2)

52. (16,027)

61. –

Bulgaria (0.840)

69. (73.1)

26. (98.3)

49. (82.4)

69. (11,222)

63. +

Romania (0.837)

76. (72.5)

32. (97.6)

60. (79.2)

64. (12,369)

65.

Montenegro (0.834)

58. (74.0)

41. (96.4)

83. (74.5)

66. (11,699)

67.

Serbia (0.826)

60. (73.9)

42. (96.4)

84. (74.5)

75. (10,248)

70.

Albania (0.818)

38. (76.5)

19. (99.0)

118. (67.8)

93. (7,041)

71. +

Russian Federation (0.817)

118. (66.2)

11. (99.5)

51. (81.9)

55. (14,690)

72.

(FYR) Macedonia (0.817)

56. (74.1)

37. (97.0)

109. (70.1)

80. (9,096)

75.

Brazil (0.813)

81. (72.2)

71. (90.0)

40. (87.2)

79. (9,567)

76.

Bosnia-Herzegovina (0.812)

51. (75.1)

39. (96.7)

110. (69.0)

87. (7,764)

79. –

Turkey (0.806)

86. (71.7)

77. (88.7)

105. (71.1)

63. (12,955)

84. +

Armenia (0.798)

64. (73.6)

14. (99.5)

82. (74.6)

100. (5,693)

85. -

Ukraine (0.796)

110. (68.2)

6. (99.7)

90. (90.0)

94. (6,914)

86. +

Azerbaijan (0.787)

101. (70.0)

13. (99.5)

120. (66.2)

84. (7,851)

88. –

Iran (Islamic Republic of) (0.782)

95. (71.2)

94. (82.3)

91. (73.2)

71. (10,955)

89. +

Georgia (0.778)

90. (71.6)

1. (100.0)

78. (76.7)

110. (4,662)

92. +

China (0.772)

72. (72.9)

56. (93.3)

112. (68.7)

102. (5,383)

117.

Moldova (0.720)

109. (68.3)

17. (99.2)

100. (71.6)

131. (2,551)

134.

India (0.612)

128. (63.4)

120. (66.0)

134. (61.0)

128. (2,753)

182.

Niger (0.340)

160. (50.8)

149. (28.7)

176. (27.2)

176. (627)

Human Development categories: Very High 1-38, High 39-83, Medium 84-158, Low 159-182

2009

This year’s HDI (released on 5th Oct 2009) has been calculated for 182 countries and territories—the widest coverage ever. The estimates, which rely on the most recently available data compiled by the UN and other international partners, are based on 2007 data. HDI values fell in four countries—in all cases as a result of falling GDP per capita—and rose in 174 cases. At the same time, there were many more changes in country rankings. In 2007 relative to 2006, 50 countries fell one or more places in rank between the two years, and a similar number moved up. This is because changes in rank are affected not just by the performance of individual countries but also by the progress made relative to other countries especially when the differences in value are small.

It is important to note that these HDI results, based on 2007 data, do not reflect the effects of the global economic crisis, which is expected to have massive impacts on human development achievements.

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is working on the ground in 166 countries. More:www.undp.org

About: AriRusila's BalkanPerspective

Ari RUSILA's Resume

Ari Rusila is a development project management expert, blogger and freelancer from Finland with a special interest in the Balkan region and the Great Middle East. His other interests include civil crisis management issues, conflicts and geopolitics.